The Community Buzz

Hospitals spy on patient purchases to spot bad habits

The process is already underway in at least two major hospital chains, one in Pennsylvania and the other across both North and South Carolina.

At the Carolinas Healthcare System - comprised of more than 900 hospitals, nursing homes, surgical centers, and more - officials are employing information such as where a person shops, the kind of food they buy, and whether or not they smoke to craft profiles for roughly 2 million people.